The present invention relates to devices for lifting and moving shelves or other objects.
Typically, to rearrange the shelves in a storage area or warehouse, it is necessary to remove the inventory or items stored on the shelves, break down the shelves, move the broken-down shelves to the new location, reassemble the shelves, and place the inventory back on the reassembled shelves. This can take quite a bit of time, and is very labor and cost intensive, even for relatively modestly sized storage areas or warehouses.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a device for lifting and moving shelves and other objects without having to remove stored inventory or disassemble the shelves.
A shelf dolly according to the present invention comprises a caster-footed pedestal base and a lifting sleeve slidably disposed over the pedestal base. A shelf-leg coupling adapter is connected to the lifting sleeve for removably attaching the lifting sleeve to a shelf leg. Additionally, the shelf dolly is equipped with a jack for raising and lowering the lifting sleeve with respect to the pedestal base.
To raise a shelf leg, the shelf dolly is positioned next to the leg, with the caster contacting the ground. The lifting sleeve portion of the shelf dolly is coupled to the shelf leg using the shelf-leg coupling adapter. Subsequently, the shelf dolly""s jack is operated, causing the lifting sleeve to move upwards, and the shelf leg, coupled to the lifting sleeve, to lift off the ground. To move the shelf, a shelf dolly is coupled to each shelf leg. Once all the shelf legs are lifted off the ground using the shelf dollies, the shelf can be rolled around and repositioned via the casters.